Penn State’s March run came to an end on Saturday night. Despite putting up a gritty effort in the second half against the 2-seeded Texas Longhorns, Penn State was sent home from the NCAA Basketball Tournament with a 71-66 loss in the second round of the Midwest region.
Penn State was as hot as it could be shooting the ball in the first round but things were tougher to get going on offense against Texas in the second round. Penn State’s three-point shooting missed on too many opportunities and the Nittany Lions defense couldn’t figure out a surprise leading scorer for the Longhorns.
Here is a look at five key stats from the final box score.
A cold night from three-point land
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After torching Texas A&M from three-point range in the first round, it took a long time for the Nittany Lions to get anything working from long-range against the Longhorns. Penn State shot just 8-of-28 from three-point range despite getting a good number of good looks for their three-point shooters.
Texas had a rough night from beyond the arc as well. The Longhorns drained just one of its 13 three-point shots, but the Longhorns had a much better night shooting overall to compensate for it.
The Dylan Disu issue
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If you were looking for a bit of a surprise star in the game, it was clearly Texas forward Dylan Disu. Penn State had no answers for the senior as he made shots all night long, especially in the clutch.
Disu averaged 8.5 points per game during the regular season and came up with a season-high 28 points to lift Texas past Penn State.
Jalen Pickett: 11 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 7 turnovers
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Credit the Longhorns for playing aggressive defense on Jalen Pickett, because it certainly worked. Marcus Carr and Terry Allen each had assignments on Pickett and they were on him all game long to never allow him to get into much of a comfort zone. Pickett wasn’t getting much help from his supporting cast, resulting in just one assist in the game.
Pickett was also pressured into seven turnovers after not having a single turnover against Texas A&M.
Andrew Funk's untimely funk
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It was a particularly frustrating night for Andrew Funk. After hitting eight threes against Texas A&M in the first round, Funk was just 2-of-10 from three against the Longhorns despite a number of clean looks at the basket. But sometimes the shots just don’t fall for you, and such was the case for Funk against Texas.
Funk did end the game with 12 points as he found the basket a few other ways in the second half, but the threes just were not there often enough for him in this one.
Myles Dread provides spark form the bench
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Veteran Nittany Lion Myles Dread was there to provide a couple of needed three-point shots in the first half to finally get Penn State a shot from downtown. He ended the game with four three0-pointers made on seven attempts to end the game with 12 points off the bench, good to tie for the second-most points scored by a Penn State player.
